Chapter 7: Abortion Ethics – Personhood, Rights & Moral Arguments

Chapter 7, focusing on abortion, delves into the ethical, legal, historical, and philosophical complexities surrounding this divisive issue in bioethics. Historically, views on abortion have varied dramatically, with theological concepts, such as Christian ideas about "ensoulment" and the Jewish stance on fetal personhood beginning at birth, influencing moral perspectives across centuries. The chapter presents crucial medical facts, including the developmental stages (zygote, embryo, fetus) and key benchmarks like quickening and viability, the latter being the point (around 23–24 weeks) where a fetus can potentially survive outside the womb. U.S. data provides context, detailing abortion rates, patient demographics, common reasons for seeking termination (e.g., financial strain or conflict with life goals), and the relative safety of modern procedures. The legal framework has been largely defined by the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established a woman's constitutional right to privacy regarding abortion, regulated by a trimester system based on maternal health and the state's interest in potential life. This was later modified by the "undue burden" standard, allowing states to regulate pre-viability abortions unless regulations impose a substantial obstacle to the woman. Philosophically, the moral debate pits the conservative position—that the unborn is a full person from conception—against the liberal view, which denies full personhood based on criteria like consciousness, reasoning, and self-awareness (Mary Anne Warren). Central arguments explored include the debate over whether the fetus is merely a "potential person" and Don Marquis’s influential assertion that abortion is seriously wrong because it deprives the fetus of a "future-like-ours". Moderate positions, such as Judith Jarvis Thomson’s violinist analogy, contend that even if the fetus is a person, the woman is not morally obligated to provide use of her body. The chapter also examines how ethical theories like utilitarianism, Kantian duty, and Natural Law are applied to the issue, and provides a distinct feminist ethical lens emphasizing that a woman’s bodily autonomy and lived experience, within a context of societal oppression, must be central to any moral analysis. Finally, contemporary perspectives explore the moral weight of abortion in terms of motherhood and the ethics of creation, irrespective of strict personhood status.